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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing morpho butterflies. Also known as blue morphos for their seemingly blue colored wings, there are around thirty species in the morpho genus and they're not all shimmering blue. Some appear more green and others even come in white! Plus, these butterflies aren’t even actually blue at all; their bodies don’t contain any blue pigment, but we’ll get back to this in just a bit. Morphos are some large butterflies reaching wingspans up to 8 inches (20cm) in length. They live throughout Central and South America and can be found from sea level to mountainous regions. As adults, they spend a large portion of their time on the forest floor or in low lying shrubs and vegetation. Here they suck up liquids like rotting fruit juice, animal wastes, mud, tree sap, and more for nourishment. These butterflies often land with their wings closed to keep themselves disguised from predators. The underside of a morpho’s wings are brown and this helps them blend in with the environment. They also often sport eye spots, called ocelli, which can make them intimidating to predators. Predators to morphos are mostly birds like flycatchers, but these arthropods are also facing habitat loss due to humans.

When they aren’t slurping up food, adult morphos are looking for mates. As adults, these butterflies only live a few brief weeks. While searching for a mate, they may fly up from the forest floor up into the tree canopy. During times like this, they can gather in large groups atop the trees and they appear so bright they can even be seen by planes from above! Blue morphos aren’t blue, though.Their wings are covered in scales which reflect blue light making them appear iridescent blue in color, however, morphos are really more of a brown color when not all lit up! When light is shining on them and they flutter through the forest, their wing beats make them appear to blink in and out of existence as they flap.

Males may flash their colors to ward off other males while females are often much duller in appearance. After mating, the female lays her eggs on the undersides of leaves so her young will have instant access to food. Some morphos prefer certain plant species like pea plants! The caterpillars emerge about two weeks later and come out spiked and colorful. The larvae eat plant material and grow, shedding their outer layer as they get larger. Butterflies undergo complete metamorphosis, so once they’ve reached a big enough size, typically after three to five molts in morphos, they form a chrysalis. Here they’ll pupate for a few weeks to a few months depending on external environmental factors and then emerge as adult morphos. It takes about four hours for their wings to dry. The whole life cycle on average takes about 115 days from egg to adult.

For more facts on morpho butterflies, check out the links in the description. Thank you to austin for today’s request! Give a thumbs up if you learned something new today, and thank you for watching Animal Fact Files!